Census: 45.7 Million Uninsured Americans in 2007

WASHINGTON — The number of  Americans lacking health insurance dropped by more than one million to 45.7 million in 2007, the Census Bureau reported this week, according to the New York Times.

This was a significant change as the amount of uninsured Americans had increased for the six years prior to 2007. Health officials said the turn is the result of government-sponsored health insurance programs and a decline in the use of private insurers.

However, experts cautioned that the report may be misleading as it failed to take into account the economic downtown that began last year, thus presenting the number of insured in an unrealistically positive light.

The report also presented an outdated picture of health insurance, healthcare experts and advocates for the poor told the newspaper.

People have also looked to public programs for insurance because premiums have risen faster than wages and inflation, Diane Rowland, executive vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation told the New York Times.

People covered by private insurance may have declined, David Johnson, chief of the Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division at the Census Bureau told the newspaper, but the number of uninsured fell because of federal and state programs.

The New York Times reported the over all picture as follows; Those covered by governmental programs rose to 27.8 percent in 2007 from 27 percent the year before. Those insured by Medicaid rose to 13.2 percent, or 39.6 million, in 2007, up from 12.9 percent, or 38.3 million, in 2006.

On the other hand, “private health insurance fell, covering 67.5 percent of Americans in 2007, down from 67.9 percent in 2006. Employment-based coverage also continued its long decline in 2007, dropping to 59.3 percent from 59.7 percent.”

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